The present invention relates to drawer slides, and more particularly to a drawer slide having a bumper mounted in the forward end thereof to engage a cabinet door and thereby prevent the slide from marking the door.
A wide variety of drawer slides has been developed for mounting drawer boxes within cabinets. Typically, the slide includes a drawer rail secured to the drawer box, a cabinet rail secured to the cabinet, and roller structure for slidably interfitting the two rails to slidably suspend the drawer box within the cabinet. The structure of the rails can be varied in accordance with well-known techniques to make the drawer self-closing, self-opening, or self-locking, or to have other characteristics.
Often, the cabinets in which drawers are so mounted include doors covering the cabinet opening. If the drawer is withdrawn from the cabinet before the cabinet door is fully open, the drawer rail and/or drawer engage, mar, and/or mark the door. The roll-formed drawer rails include sharp exposed corners which can cut quite deeply into the cabinet door. If the user is not extremely careful, the cabinet door will eventually have a deep scratch along its inside surface where the drawer rail engages the door. Scratching can also occur if the door is closed before the drawer is completely closed.
One prior artisan has developed a rudimentary solution to this problem by staking a rubber bumper within the forward end of the drawer rail of the slide assembly. The rail in which the bumper is mounted is C-shaped in cross section including a web portion and a pair of flanges extending generally transversely therefrom. Both flanges are cut back from the rail end to accommodate the rubber bumper, which is staked to the rail by a rivet. The bumper includes a body overlying the web portion and a pair of shoulders abutting the cutaway flanges. The bumper, rather than the metal rail itself, engages the cabinet door to prevent marring thereof. This bumper/rail is manufactured and sold by Vogt Industries, Inc., of Grand Rapids, Michigan. However, this construction is not without its drawbacks. First, the bumper is relatively easily dislodged from its desired position at the end of the rail. Second, the rail end must be specially stamped or machined to receive the bumper. Third, the relatively high coefficient of friction of the rubber bumper causes the bumper to drag along the cabinet door and inhibit the smooth and easy operation of the drawer.